Claim
by Mirsa
Summary: Goodbyes are bittersweet and promises are eternal


Her dark, dusky purple pants snapped in the gale-force winds that propelled the snow over the ruined city. The thin black gauntlet gloves, wrapped with leather bands, were stretched tight over her clenched fists as she glared into the growing storm. The ragged fur on the collar of her vest was a tizzy hiding the purple braid plastered tightly against her skull, her most basic weapon other than her natural wolf abilities. By now Tsume had figured out this was her sanctuary, where she ran to escape or to plan as the situation called for. He stood silently behind her, noting her tense posture, imaging the death-dealing expression that matched on her face. His own pose was laid-back, with hands jammed half-way into his pockets and one knee bent, but he felt the furthest from.

He hadn't really figured on becoming attached to the strange pack leader who had saved his own pack when they first met, saved his own neck really after mouthing off to that other wolf. But he had, and now he was torn between the two options he'd unconsciously created for his life: stay here, with Haruka and her sister and their pack, or continue the journey in search of Paradise with the others he'd originally started out with. He couldn't come up with any glib remarks to shrug off one or the other as he had with his reasons to start the Paradise journey with Kiba. Now that journey had become part of him, as a wolf, and it was something his wolf's pride was not willing to part with easily, even for the love of a mate.

_Love, huh? Never thought I'd ever apply __**that**__ word to myself. Guess things can always change more than you think …_

"Do you think you can really find it?" the hollow roar of the winter winds was paled in comparison to the sound of her words. Tsume had no trouble picking out the differing tones of her voice: weakness and strength, compassion and hatred, trust and fear, anger and … love. He knew what she was asking, and he knew too that she already knew the answer. Not at first, but then something had happened to make him believe as Kiba did, that they were indeed in search of Paradise. He didn't bother with the obvious as Tsume pulled his hands from his pockets and silently walked to stand behind the girl.

She never moved, but he was sure she could hear him behind her. He stepped slightly to her left, intending to see her face. As he had thought, her expression perfectly matched her body language with a look as cold and deadly as steel. He studied her face, memorizing her features to hold on to in the long nights to come. When she had asked, he had heard her voice, and the forbidden hope she had tried desperately to conceal. As much as she would want him to stay with her, she knew there were some things that just had to be done. This journey, this quest to find a better world … if only it weren't for her bonds with this place she would join them, run by his side as part of the pack, searching with him for a place they could be happy.

Without stopping to think, Tsume leaned down, grabbing the ruff of her vest and pulling it out of his way as he sunk his fangs into Haruka's neck. Her body jerked slightly, the muscles stiffening in his maw, but then she loosened, relaxed, and every so slightly her head tilted to the right, allowing him a bit of a better grip on her flesh. Pulling his head back, Tsume could taste her blood as he ran his tongue over his fangs, surveying the damage he'd done. A perfect imprint of his mouth made crimson pinpricks in her skin as the blood welled from the punctures. He bent down again, his mouth hovering over her pale skin as he blew on the red liquid to help it congeal quicker.

A shiver not of the winter's cold blazed its way through Haruka's body as she felt the male wolf's breath on her neck. She could feel the blood on her skin, but she didn't care when Tsume released her vest, letting the dirty white faux fur brush against the wounds, staining it forever red. Her stance was no longer tense; now Haruka simply stood, staring out into the blowing snow.

"_I'll take you with me to Paradise."_

A howl rose and filled the air, matching the voice of the wind with conflicting notes of mourning and hope. Haruka listened to Dusky's song as she turned her head to the horizon, watching the vanishing forms of four wolves disappear into the blizzard white of a dying world.


End file.
